Update (6/2/20 8:45 p.m.): Please see here for further developments.
After he tear-gassed peaceful protesters, Fox News glorifies Trump's photo op
After peaceful protesters were hit with tear gas and rubber bullets, Fox “straight news” anchor likens Trump to Abraham Lincoln
Written by Jason Campbell
Published
Updated
President Donald Trump delivered a speech from the White House tonight condemning protests that have wracked the nation since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25. Trump announced he would be mobilizing “thousands and thousands” of “heavily armed” military personnel to quell protests nationwide if they continued. While Trump was speaking, police forcibly dispersed peaceful protesters who were gathered at Lafayette Park, which is adjacent to the White House grounds in Washington, D.C.
Fox News glorified Trump’s stunt, showing his photo-op with minimal coverage of the preceding attacks on peaceful protesters.
MSNBC and CNN both showed footage of police firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds. The protesters assembled at the park were by all accounts peaceful and were not provoking police. After crowds were dispersed by police, Trump left the White House and walked through Lafayette Park to St. John’s Episcopal Church. As a CNN chyron noted, the violent actions by the police in dispersing peaceful protesters from the park was done for nothing more than a presidential photo-op.
Fox News initially speculated that the increased police activity in Lafayette Park was due to Trump’s enforcement of D.C.’s 7 p.m. curfew, even though it was clearly occurring before the deadline. Before Trump left the White House, Fox anchor Bret Baier speculated that crowds were dispersed so the president could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church. As Trump was about to leave the White House, Fox contributor Brit Hume remarked that the speech showed that Trump prioritized the “restoration of order.”
As Trump walked through the recently tear-gassed Lafayette Park, Fox anchor Martha MacCallum compared him to President Abraham Lincoln, remarking that Trump was “retaking this territory.”
Video file
Citation
From the June 1, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum
MacCallum reiterated this point shortly thereafter, saying Trump sent the message that he was “taking back this real estate, this territory.”
Video file
Citation
From the June 1, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum
Fox News contributor Karl Rove (who is advising Trump without disclosure on Fox) insisted Trump’s photo-op was indicative of him “seeking to restore … a sense of calm, of peace, of normality to our cities.”
Video file
Citation
From the June 1, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum
Fox News reporter Kevin Corke later said that protesters were “ushered” out of the park.
Video file
Citation
From the June 1, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight
KEVIN CORKE (FOX CORRESPONDENT): Evening Tucker. Obviously a very different scene than we saw last night. We are here at the intersection of 16th and I, and if you know the city, that's just a block away from Lafayette Park. And while things are very calm here -- as you see we are surrounded by law enforcement all over. In fact there are several vans here to collect those who are out after curfew, so that can certainly be happening here in the next few moments. We've actually seen a couple people already arrested.
Compare that to what we saw earlier today here in Lafayette Park. It was really quite the scene. We saw a huge rush of people coming at us. Of course were set up just outside of St. John's Church because we wanted to get all the pictures and the sound to see how the park might be different than last night. I mean, last night was really quite something. Of course we saw that all the numbers of fires, including the one in the basement of the parish office over at St. John's. Today, a very different scene for a while. You saw the wild movement of the crowd. They were actually ushered in a direction by law enforcement and then cordoned off eventually right here on 16th. But again, very different from last night. We're hopeful that things remain calm. If I were to compare, I'd say there's no comparison. Right now a very different scene here in Washington.
Fox “straight news” anchor Harris Faulkner also praised Trump.
Another Fox “straight news” reporter also decided to not mention the tear-gassing of peaceful protesters.
Fox News' homepage led with it as well.
CNN reported that Trump was upset about media coverage portraying him as having been hiding in a bunker during protests outside the White House on Friday night. His walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church was apparently meant to combat that narrative. No one at the church was reportedly aware that Trump was going to do this photo-op.